# a couple of questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 1999, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268 "1999-12-09T19:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/1 "1999-12-10T06:49:00Z")
I’ve been getting e-mails for several months now regarding an attempt by Congress to slap a 5 cent “postage” fee on e-mail. Is this true, false, or true-but-not-the-whole-story? Also, Misty Bernall, the Columbine student who was supposedly killed because she said “Yes.” when asked if she was a Christian. I’ve been hearing that it’s basically true, but… Could someone point me in the right direction? Some links maybe? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/2 "1999-12-10T06:57:00Z")
Re: your second question. Here is a (surprisingly) impartial article from a christian journal regarding the uncertainty about Cassie (not Misty) Bernall’s final words. [Cassie Bernall’s Parents Stand By Book’s Accuracy](http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3461.htm) * * * Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide. Maréchal Lyautey ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/3 "1999-12-09T19:07:00Z")
RE: Your first question Check out this link from snopes: [http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/internet.htm](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/internet.htm) * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy [The Kat House](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/home.htm) [Join the FSH Webring](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/fshwebring.htm) ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/4 "1999-12-09T20:42:00Z")
Thanks for helping me with the martyr story. The snopes article didn’t really answer my question though. The proposal I’ve heard has the govt. charging companies like Hotmail a nickel per e-mail delivered. This is supposed to make up for a shortfall in postal service revenues (or something). Snopes doesn’t seem to have anything on this (or the site’s search feature doesn’t work too well). Thanks for trying though. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/5 "1999-12-09T20:52:00Z")
Try this from the USPS themselves. [http://www.usps.gov/news/press/99/99045new.htm](http://www.usps.gov/news/press/99/99045new.htm) * * * “Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I’m worried about the difference between wrong and fun.” ~P.J. O’Rourke~ ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/6 "1999-12-09T20:54:00Z")
Well, no matter what form it has taken, its a hoax. There is no bill in congress to tax e-mails. I use Hotmail and I’ve not heard a single thing about this new supposed legislation. Somone is just trying to get you to forward that message to a bunch of your friends, thus adding to the already humonguous amount of e-mail that is being sent and slowing down the entire system. * * * -Dragwyr “If God had meant for man to eat waffles, he would have given him lips like snowshoes” -Rev. Billy C. Wirtz ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/7 "1999-12-10T00:21:00Z")
Yeah, its like a few years back when they were trying to charge us phone time for time spent on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/8 "1999-12-10T00:33:00Z")
Thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/9 "1999-12-10T05:39:00Z")
J String, I got that email about a year ago, and having learned by experience that 99.99% of these types of claims sent by email are untrue, I always check the [Urban Legends](http://www.urbanlegends.com) website, or run a search on one or more keywords in the text of the email on any search engine before I buy into them. I do this to gather the factual evidence needed so I can include it in my “reply to all” in the hopes that I can get everyone to stop forwarding this stuff. For instance, in the case of this particular one, running a search at [ask.com](http://ask.com) showed the following as the top answers to a query on “Berger, Stepp and Gorman,” the law firm from which this e-mail supposedly originated: [ul][li][About.com](http://About.com): Email Tax for Canada? - Urban Legends and Folklore[/li] [li]Webcrawler: INTERNET RUMORS[/li] [li]Alta Vista: Hoax: A Tax on Internet E-mails[/li] [li]Excite: U.S. Postal Service “Alternate Postage Fees” Hoax[/li] [li]Infoseek: E-mail Hoax 1[/ul][/li] I found it particularly hilarious that the same e-mail was floating around Canada, using all the same names, amounts, and even the same bill number, which we all know is simply not possible (the US and Canada do not use the same numbering system on their proposed legislation). Check out [this url](http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blemtax.htm?iam=ask&terms=Berger%2C+Stepp+and+Gorman+) to read the Canadian version if you’d like a good laugh at the absurdity of it 🙂 I think you’ll find that once you visit the Urban Legends site (or any of the others out there like it), and see the examples of all the hoaxes out there (many of which you’ve probably received) you’ll become a much more skeptical recipient of these types of emails in the future. And no, you’re not going to get a free Honda in your driveway just by forwarding e-mails to your friends either. Sorry ☹ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/10 "1999-12-11T05:32:00Z")
A new federal tax on something Internet-related? Can’t happen, at least not for a couple of years yet: [http://cox.house.gov/nettax/lawsuml.html](http://cox.house.gov/nettax/lawsuml.html) Signed as public law 105-277 on October 21, 1998, the Internet Tax Freedom Act prohibits state and local governments from enacting any sort of discriminatory tax on any facet of internet access for the period between October 21, 1999 and October 21, 2001. * * * Steve Pantol CRC Radio [http://www.crcradio.com](http://www.crcradio.com) “Waah-Waah, Yea-E-yeah” --James Hetfield ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/11 "1999-12-11T05:35:00Z")
I’ll snip a relevant section of that summary: > [@](#): > > NO FEDERAL INTERNET TAXES > > Section 1201 declares the sense of Congress that no new federal taxes should be enacted on Internet access or electronic > commerce. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that the reach of the moratorium is national in scope by having the federal > government abide by the terms of the moratorium. Binding statutory language was not needed to accomplish this goal, since the > federal government does not presently tax Internet access or electronic commerce. For instance, the federal government does not > have a sales tax, and has chosen not to apply the 3% federal excise tax on telecommunications services does not apply to > information services like the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-of-questions/5268/12 "1999-12-11T13:19:00Z")
The U.S. Postal Service is a bussiness and is run as such. They have to be self sustaining. They raise their shipping rates when they need more revenue.